dom6:generic-blood-magic-guide
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dom6:generic-blood-magic-guide [2026/07/04 10:57] wigglefig created |
dom6:generic-blood-magic-guide [2026/07/05 11:24] (current) wigglefig |
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| //By Wigglefig// | //By Wigglefig// | ||
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| + | //Special thanks to monkeydew and Cybertron2 for their feedback and suggestions.// | ||
| Ordinary mages draw their strength from places of power hidden in the wild. A volcano brings bubbling magma from within the world' | Ordinary mages draw their strength from places of power hidden in the wild. A volcano brings bubbling magma from within the world' | ||
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| ====What are the downsides of Blood magic?==== | ====What are the downsides of Blood magic?==== | ||
| - | * Blood hunting causes unrest and kills population, reducing gold income. Recruiting patrollers to keep the unrest down is a further cost. | + | * Blood hunting causes |
| * Mages that are blood hunting (or casting Blood summon spells) are not researching, | * Mages that are blood hunting (or casting Blood summon spells) are not researching, | ||
| * Blood logistics is often quite complicated - both the actual blood hunting, and keeping armies supplied with blood slaves so they can actually cast anything - and can take a lot of real-life mental energy to keep up with. | * Blood logistics is often quite complicated - both the actual blood hunting, and keeping armies supplied with blood slaves so they can actually cast anything - and can take a lot of real-life mental energy to keep up with. | ||
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| Here is a non-exhaustive list of nations capable of significant blood economies: | Here is a non-exhaustive list of nations capable of significant blood economies: | ||
| * EA: [[berytos ea|Berytos]], | * EA: [[berytos ea|Berytos]], | ||
| - | * MA: [[abysia ma|Abysia]], [[ind ma|Ind]], [[jotunheim ma|Jotunheim]], | + | * MA: [[abysia ma|Abysia]], |
| * LA: Lots! But particularly [[ulm la|Ulm]], [[marignon la|Marignon]], | * LA: Lots! But particularly [[ulm la|Ulm]], [[marignon la|Marignon]], | ||
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| * You'll need patrollers to keep unrest down so blood hunt success chance remains high. | * You'll need patrollers to keep unrest down so blood hunt success chance remains high. | ||
| * These will usually be random independent troops recruited in the province itself and led by an independent commander using the " | * These will usually be random independent troops recruited in the province itself and led by an independent commander using the " | ||
| - | * A good rule of thumb is about 25 patrol strength per {{path> | + | * A good rule of thumb is about 25 patrol strength per {{path> |
| - | * {{path> | + | * {{path> |
| - | * Accompany your blood hunters with bodyguards to protect them from the occasional [[blood hunting# | + | * Generally you will want to start your blood economy by hunting primarily with {{path> |
| + | * Accompany your blood hunters with bodyguards to protect them from the occasional [[blood hunting# | ||
| * Avoid hunting in really high population provinces as unrest impacts gold income proportionally and higher population than 7500 does not increase the chance of a successful blood hunt. Especially try to avoid hunting your capital unless you really need the blood slaves - it reduces your gold income by a ton! | * Avoid hunting in really high population provinces as unrest impacts gold income proportionally and higher population than 7500 does not increase the chance of a successful blood hunt. Especially try to avoid hunting your capital unless you really need the blood slaves - it reduces your gold income by a ton! | ||
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| A successful blood economy might look like several 9000-10000ish population provinces set up with 3-4 blood hunters each, accompanied by a force of patrollers. A nation of moderate size can easily be producing hundreds of blood slaves a turn this way, once they have gotten their blood economy properly set up. | A successful blood economy might look like several 9000-10000ish population provinces set up with 3-4 blood hunters each, accompanied by a force of patrollers. A nation of moderate size can easily be producing hundreds of blood slaves a turn this way, once they have gotten their blood economy properly set up. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ====What should I patrol with?==== | ||
| + | |||
| + | To start with, patrol with cheap units to get as much patrol strength for as little cost as possible, ideally recruited directly from independent provinces so your forts are free to produce higher-quality units for your armies. The various types of independent ??Militia?? are excellent for this purpose. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Once you've researched a bit more, you could consider summoning upkeep-free patrol chaff instead. At low research levels, ??Pack of Wolves??, ??Call of the Winds?? and ordinary ?? | ||
| ====Transporting blood slaves==== | ====Transporting blood slaves==== | ||
| - | If blood hunters find blood slaves, but there is no lab in the province, the blood slaves go directly into their inventory. To use these slaves for rituals, you will need to ferry them back to a lab and transfer them into your treasury using another commander. In many games you will see two indie ??Commanders?? going back and forth between a blood hunting province and a neighbouring forted lab. | + | If blood hunters find blood slaves, but there is no lab in the province, the blood slaves go directly into their inventory. To use these slaves for rituals, you will need to ferry them back to a lab and transfer them into your treasury using another commander. In many games you will see two indie ??Commander??s going back and forth between a blood hunting province and a neighbouring forted lab. The hotkey Shift+V deposits blood slaves from all commanders in a province onto the selected commander - use it to save a lot of clicking while managing your blood economy. |
| One cool outcome of this process is that blood hunters will often have a lot of blood slaves with them if their province is ever attacked. This can be absolutely devastating to raiding parties if you have ??Leech?? researched, and is still a bit problematic even if you only have ??Summon Imps??. | One cool outcome of this process is that blood hunters will often have a lot of blood slaves with them if their province is ever attacked. This can be absolutely devastating to raiding parties if you have ??Leech?? researched, and is still a bit problematic even if you only have ??Summon Imps??. | ||
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| This is a fairly laborious but worthy pursuit when you expect to get to the late game and want a few more tools to play with. Non-blood nations will never have a very large blood economy, but a few ??Lifelong Protections?? | This is a fairly laborious but worthy pursuit when you expect to get to the late game and want a few more tools to play with. Non-blood nations will never have a very large blood economy, but a few ??Lifelong Protections?? | ||
| - | =====Using | + | =====Using |
| There are a great many ways to use Blood magic once you've set up your blood economy. In this section, I'll point out some highlights from this path, though this is by no means a complete list. I'll also mostly be focusing on the generic options available to every nation, rather than nation-specific magic. | There are a great many ways to use Blood magic once you've set up your blood economy. In this section, I'll point out some highlights from this path, though this is by no means a complete list. I'll also mostly be focusing on the generic options available to every nation, rather than nation-specific magic. | ||
| TLDR: | TLDR: | ||
| - | * Combat Blood magic requires a lot of blood slaves to sustain but can do really well into living units. | ||
| * Blood items are really good and probably the majority of your midgame spending if you don't have national summons. | * Blood items are really good and probably the majority of your midgame spending if you don't have national summons. | ||
| + | * Combat Blood magic requires a lot of blood slaves to sustain but can do really well into non-inanimate units. | ||
| * Generic Blood summons are hard to get into early and often not that useful until later in the game. | * Generic Blood summons are hard to get into early and often not that useful until later in the game. | ||
| * There are several great utility Blood rituals for a variety of tasks. | * There are several great utility Blood rituals for a variety of tasks. | ||
| * Blood/ | * Blood/ | ||
| + | |||
| + | ====Items==== | ||
| + | |||
| + | For nations without their own special Blood summons, a lot of their mid-game blood slaves will probably go to Blood' | ||
| + | |||
| + | * ??Ring of the Warrior??: a straightforward attack skill and morale bonus. Great for thugs. | ||
| + | * ??Heart Finder Sword??: instakills non-inanimate enemies if they fail an MR check. Really good for army thugs. | ||
| + | * ??Lifelong Protection??: | ||
| + | * ??Flesh Eater??: makes its bearer berserk when wounded, preventing it from running away. A useful item for some types of thugs. Also creates chest wounds. | ||
| + | * ??Sanguine Dowsing Rod??: essential for any established blood economy. Pays for itself quickly and greatly improves the blood hunting success of less-skilled hunters. | ||
| + | * ??The Heart of Life??: cannot be removed from its bearer, but grants a net +5 reinvigoration. | ||
| + | * ??The Black Heart??: also cannot be removed. Makes any commander into an [[assassin]], | ||
| + | * All of the boosters made with blood slaves: ??Armor of Twisting Thorns??, ??Armor of Souls??, ??Brazen Vessel??, ??Blood Thorn??, ??Blood Stone??, and the very expensive but awesome ??Robe of the Magi??. Blood Thorns in particular are the cheapest way to boost blood hunting success rate after Sanguine Dowsing Rods, though they come a lot later in the research tree. | ||
| ====Combat==== | ====Combat==== | ||
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| At Blood 8, ??Damage Reversal?? is a nice (but very late) thug spell that reduces incoming damage by reflecting it back onto enemies, while ??Rush of Strength?? is a battlefield-wide +4 strength for all creatures, not just demons. ??Life for a Life?? is like Leech, but single-target, | At Blood 8, ??Damage Reversal?? is a nice (but very late) thug spell that reduces incoming damage by reflecting it back onto enemies, while ??Rush of Strength?? is a battlefield-wide +4 strength for all creatures, not just demons. ??Life for a Life?? is like Leech, but single-target, | ||
| - | In the Blood/ | + | In the Blood/ |
| ===Sabbaths=== | ===Sabbaths=== | ||
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| Otherwise, sabbaths are fairly similar to other communions in that they allow you to cast higher levels of magic than would otherwise be available to you, or cast more sustainably throughout a battle if you don't overload the sabbath - a very useful tool, but one that relies on a steady supply of blood slaves. | Otherwise, sabbaths are fairly similar to other communions in that they allow you to cast higher levels of magic than would otherwise be available to you, or cast more sustainably throughout a battle if you don't overload the sabbath - a very useful tool, but one that relies on a steady supply of blood slaves. | ||
| - | |||
| - | ====Items==== | ||
| - | |||
| - | For nations without their own unique Blood summons, a lot of their mid-game blood slaves will probably go to Blood' | ||
| - | |||
| - | * ??Ring of the Warrior??: a straightforward attack skill and morale bonus. Great for thugs. | ||
| - | * ??Heart Finder Sword??: instakills non-inanimate enemies if they fail an MR check. Really good for army thugs. | ||
| - | * ??Lifelong Protection??: | ||
| - | * ??Flesh Eater??: makes its bearer berserk when wounded, preventing it from running away. A useful item for some types of thugs. Also creates chest wounds. | ||
| - | * ??Sanguine Dowsing Rod??: essential for any established blood economy. Pays for itself quickly and greatly improves the blood hunting success of less-skilled hunters. | ||
| - | * ??The Heart of Life??: cannot be removed from its bearer, but grants a net +5 reinvigoration. | ||
| - | * ??The Black Heart??: also cannot be removed. Makes any commander into an [[assassin]], | ||
| - | * All of the boosters made with blood slaves: ??Armor of Twisting Thorns??, ??Armor of Souls??, ??Brazen Vessel??, ??Blood Thorn??, ??Blood Stone??, and the very expensive but awesome ??Robe of the Magi??. Blood Thorns in particular are the cheapest way to boost blood hunting success rate after Sanguine Dowsing Rods, though they come a lot later in the research tree. | ||
| ====Rituals==== | ====Rituals==== | ||
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| ??Cross Breeding?? and ??Improved Cross Breeding?? mostly summons a pile of junk. There are some interesting results but not enough to make this militarily useful. Crossbred units are usable as patrol chaff, though. | ??Cross Breeding?? and ??Improved Cross Breeding?? mostly summons a pile of junk. There are some interesting results but not enough to make this militarily useful. Crossbred units are usable as patrol chaff, though. | ||
| - | ??Dark Vines?? are enormous blocks of hitpoints that aren't terribly expensive, but also don't do much else. Could be used to stand in the way of the enemy, | + | ??Dark Vines?? are enormous blocks of hitpoints that aren't terribly expensive |
| - | As for actual demons, there are basically five kinds that are actually interesting to summon: the ??Fiend of Darkness??, ??Devil??s, ??Frost Fiend??s, ?? | + | As for actual demons, there are basically five kinds that are actually interesting to summon: the ??Fiend of Darkness??, ??Devil??s, ??Frost Fiend??s, ?? |
| * Fiends of Darkness have great combat stats but their actual attacks (2 Claws) don't deal that much damage, although they are magical. They are powered up under ?? | * Fiends of Darkness have great combat stats but their actual attacks (2 Claws) don't deal that much damage, although they are magical. They are powered up under ?? | ||
| - | * Devils have a heat aura, a strong Trident and a weaker (but magical) Barbed Tail attack. | + | * Devils have a heat aura, a strong Trident and a weaker (but magical) Barbed Tail attack |
| * Frost Fiends have excellent defence skill, but are notable mostly for their AOE ranged Frost Blast attack. | * Frost Fiends have excellent defence skill, but are notable mostly for their AOE ranged Frost Blast attack. | ||
| * Storm Demons are really cool: they have a ranged, armour-negating lightning attack whose damage can be improved with strength buffs. They' | * Storm Demons are really cool: they have a ranged, armour-negating lightning attack whose damage can be improved with strength buffs. They' | ||
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| Succubi (??Summon Succubus??, Blood 5) and Incubi (??Summon Incubus??, Blood 5) are {{path> | Succubi (??Summon Succubus??, Blood 5) and Incubi (??Summon Incubus??, Blood 5) are {{path> | ||
| - | Ice Devils (Blood 6) and Arch Devils (Blood 7) are basically chunky commander versions of Frost Fiends and Devils respectively. They mostly have the same paths that are used to summon them, meaning they don't provide much additional magic diversity. The Heliophagi (Blood 8) have slightly more interesting | + | There are several [[:unique]] commanders that can be summoned through Blood magic, all of whom are powerful mages with durable chassis: |
| - | + | * Ice Devils (Blood 6) and Arch Devils (Blood 7) are basically chunky commander versions of Frost Fiends and Devils respectively. They mostly have the same paths that are used to summon them, meaning they don't provide much additional magic diversity, but they are powerful mages in their respective paths. The Heliophagi (Blood 8) have slightly more interesting | |
| - | ??Pedoseion - Father Illearth?? (Blood 7) is a really cool summon with a huge hitpoint pool and 15% regeneration on top of great magic paths - essentially an Earth King that is a bit easier to summon. | + | |
| - | + | | |
| - | The Demon Lords (??Bind Demon Lord?? | + | |
| ===Remote attacks=== | ===Remote attacks=== | ||
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| Blood rituals are excellent at disrupting the enemy. At Blood 5, there are two distinct Blood rituals which raise unrest: ??Wrath of Pazuzu?? and ??Rain of Toads??. Casting both at an enemy' | Blood rituals are excellent at disrupting the enemy. At Blood 5, there are two distinct Blood rituals which raise unrest: ??Wrath of Pazuzu?? and ??Rain of Toads??. Casting both at an enemy' | ||
| - | ??Plague of Locusts?? summons 8 ??Demonic Locust??s in a distant province. They are fairly dangerous | + | ??Infernal Disease?? is a very cheap assassination ritual, although it requires a {{path> |
| - | A special mention goes out to ??Send Lesser Horror?? at Blood 5. These Lesser Horrors are capable of dealing with a modest amount of province defence, and also go away after they attack. This is important because they are treated as a neutral force, meaning that if they have killed all of the province defence, you can easily ping that province with a commander on the same turn (normal attacks always take place after magic-phase ones) and take the province that way. Their being neutral also means the victim | + | A special mention goes out to ??Send Lesser Horror?? at Blood 5. These Lesser Horrors are capable of dealing with a modest amount of province defence, and also go away after they attack. This is important because they are treated as a neutral force, meaning that if they have killed all of the province defence, you can easily ping that province with a commander on the same turn (normal attacks always take place after magic-phase ones) and take the province that way. Their being neutral also means the victim technically doesn' |
| - | ===Defensive/ | + | ===Defensive/ |
| Blood gives you the ability to increase Growth scales in a province using the spell ??Blood Fecundity?? | Blood gives you the ability to increase Growth scales in a province using the spell ??Blood Fecundity?? | ||
| Afflicted mages can use the spell ??Blood Feast?? to heal their afflictions, | Afflicted mages can use the spell ??Blood Feast?? to heal their afflictions, | ||
| + | |||
| + | Human-sized {{path> | ||
| Like other paths, Blood has a protective dome spell that blocks remote rituals targeting that province, though it requires the Astral/ | Like other paths, Blood has a protective dome spell that blocks remote rituals targeting that province, though it requires the Astral/ | ||
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| ??Blood Vortex?? is a fairly basic gem-generator. It scales based on the population of the province it was cast in and also benefits from increased Turmoil scales, but also raises unrest and kills population, so you could cast it in a captured enemy capital to gain maximum value while protecting your own capital. | ??Blood Vortex?? is a fairly basic gem-generator. It scales based on the population of the province it was cast in and also benefits from increased Turmoil scales, but also raises unrest and kills population, so you could cast it in a captured enemy capital to gain maximum value while protecting your own capital. | ||
| - | ??The Looming Hell?? is an odd defensive global that appears to only target up to 5 enemy units within your dominion to seduce them to your side. According to [[https:// | + | ??The Looming Hell?? is an odd defensive global that, according to its description, |
| ??Astral Corruption?? | ??Astral Corruption?? | ||
| + | |||
| + | =====Strategy===== | ||
| + | |||
| + | So, now that you know your options, how do you actually use Blood magic to win games? | ||
dom6/generic-blood-magic-guide.1783162665.txt.gz · Last modified: 2026/07/04 10:57 by wigglefig